Non-volatile data storage devices have enabled increased portability of data and software applications. For example, multi-level cell (MLC) storage elements of a memory device may each store a value indicating multiple bits of data, enhancing data storage density as compared to single-level cell (SLC) memory devices. Consequently, memory devices may enable users to store and retrieve a large amount of data.
To increase efficiency of data storage and retrieval, a memory device may perform a “garbage collection” (GC) process that consolidates data at a region of the memory device. For example, a GC process may include retrieving multiple portions (or “fragments”) of a file from multiple blocks and writing the portions to a single region (e.g., a block) to facilitate more rapid retrieval of the file. As another example, data storage efficiency may be increased at a flash memory device by erasing a group of blocks that store invalid data (e.g., data that is to be deleted from the flash memory device). In this case, valid data (e.g., data that is not to be deleted) can be copied to another block, and the group of blocks may be erased to increase available storage space for write operations.
In some cases, a GC process may slow performance of a memory device. For example, if a block has a large amount of valid data to be relocated, performing the GC process may affect performance of other operations at the memory device, such as a write operation in response to a host request to write host data to the memory device. As an illustrative example, if the valid data includes 99 pages and the host data includes 1 page, operations to program the 1 page of host data may be “spread” across (e.g., interspersed with) operations to relocate the 99 pages of valid data. In this example, relocating the valid data from the block may decrease speed of the host write operation below a threshold rate (e.g., below a “minimum” rate specified by an industry standard with which the memory device is to comply, such as a Secure Digital (SD) specification, as an illustrative example).